"Sadly, this article does not indicate the cause
of death of the cow in question. This article states the cow did not have
BSE, but it provides us with no details as to how that conclusion was reached."
- Mod.TG]

Looks like we got a lot of double talk from the Idaho
State Vet. How can they state that the cow did not have BSE without telling
us that the cow was tested for it. They also state that the cow did not
enter the food chain without telling us wheter or not the cow went to render.

No wonder people have no confidence in the US food supply.

Patricia Doyle

BSE, BOVINE - USA (WA) (14)

A ProMED-mail post ProMED-mail, a program of the International
Society for Infectious Diseases http://www.isid.org

BOISE, Idaho -- Three cows from an imported Canadian
herd that included a BSE-infected Holstein have been traced to a dairy
farm in Burley, Idaho, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says.

One of the cows already died, while 2 others are alive.
The state Department of Agriculture placed a hold order on the farm where
they were found to prevent any animals from leaving, Nolan Lemon, a USDA
spokesman, said Thursday.

State Veterinarian Clarence Siroky announced earlier
that a dairyman in Burley had purchased 1 cow from the Canadian herd in
late 2002. The animal became sick last March 18 and died March 23. Mr.
Siroky said the cow didn't have mad cow disease, formally known as bovine
spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), which eats holes in the brains of cattle.

The disease [BSE] is a public health concern because
humans can develop a brain-wasting illness, variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
(vCJD), from consuming contaminated beef products.

The 1 calf the now-deceased cow had while in Idaho was
stillborn, Mr. Siroky said. Neither was slaughtered for food.

State agriculture officials said late Thursday they had
not yet been advised that 2 more cows were traced to the farm.

Mr. Siroky said he was notified by federal officials
last Saturday of the possibility that 1 of the Canadian cattle had been
shipped to Idaho but it took until Tuesday to verify it.

Federal agriculture officials announced Dec. 23 that
a dairy cow at a central Washington farm had tested positive for the disease.
The cow was slaughtered Dec. 9.

Investigators later traced that cow to a herd of 81 cattle
that entered the United States from Alberta, Canada in 2001. They have
since been working to trace the remaining animals in the herd.

The findings in Idaho bring the number of located cows
to 26. The other 23 were located at five central Washington farms.

Mr. Siroky declined to identify the Burley dairyman.

"He has been extremely cooperative, a very upfront
person," Mr. Siroky said.

The other 5,000 cows in the farmer's herd were physically
inspected on Wednesday, and background information on all of them was forwarded
to investigators trying to account for all 81 animals.

It will take at least 2 weeks to cross-check information
on the history of the Burley herd with that of the suspect cattle from
Canada to determine whether any more of those cows are in Burley, Mr. Siroky
said. -- ProMED-mail <promed@promedmail.org>

[Sadly, this article does not indicate the cause of death
of the cow in question. This article states the cow did not have BSE, but
it provides us with no details as to how that conclusion was reached. -
Mod.TG]

USDA's investigation into the 81 cattle that came from
Canada continues. In addition to the 26 cattle already located, an additional
animal has been located at a facility in Moxee, Washington. The State has
placed a hold on the facility. In total, 27 of the 81 cattle that came
from Canada have been located:

*One of the 81 was the positive cow.

* One has been located at a facility in Moxee, Washington.

* Three have been located at a facility in Burley, Idaho.

* Three have been located at a facility in Tenino, Washington.

* Six have been located at a facility in Connell, Washington.

* One has been located at a facility in Quincy, Washington.

* Three were at a facility in Mattawa, Washington.

* Nine were in the index herd.

USDA has transported and sampled a total of 39 animals
from the Mattawa facility and 131 animals from the index premises. To date,
all 170 samples from the index herd and the Mattawa herd have completed
testing; results were negative.

Epidemiological Policy

APHIS (Animal Plant Health Inspection Service) has focused
tracing efforts on finding the significant animals; those that were possibly
exposed to the same feed source as the index cow. At this time, all of
the animals that were imported from the same herd of origin in Canada as
the index cow are being treated as significant animals. In some instances,
due to identification and records available, APHIS may identify groups
of cattle that include potential significant animals and other cattle that
cannot be distinguished from them.

APHIS is using all tools available to identify specific
significant animals, including all available identification methods and
even bio-forensic testing if necessary. Since BSE is not a contagious disease
spread through animal contact, these efforts can be focused on finding
the individual significant animals. There is no scientific reason to restrict
movements of entire herds or anything more than a group of potential significant
animals.

With this in mind, the use of hold orders will be limited
to groups of significant animals. Once an animal in a herd is confirmed
not to be a significant animal, it will be removed from the hold order.
This will decrease the impact on individual producers and help streamline
the investigation to keep the focus on the individual significant animals
as necessary.

The international review team, comprised of Dr. Ulrich
Kihm, President and CEO, Safe Foods Solutions, Bern, Switzerland; Dr. Dagmar
Heim, TSE Coordinator, Federal Veterinary Office of Switzerland; Dr. William
Hueston, Director, Center for Animal Health and Food Safety at the University
of Minnesota; Dr. Stuart Mac Diarmid, Principal Advisor, Zoonoses and Animal
Health, New Zealand Food Safety Authority, New Zealand; and Danny Matthews,
TSE program coordinator for the United Kingdom, began their work this week
to assess the scope and thoroughness of the epidemiological investigation.

Trade Issues Senior U.S. government officials are continuing
talks with trading partners and this week are meeting with officials in
Japan, the Philippines, Hong Kong and South Korea to discuss BSE related
issues. Specific trade information can be found at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/issues/bse/bse_trade_ban_status.html

Additional information on BSE can be obtained by visiting
the USDA website at http://www.usda.gov/BSE Past BSE updates can be viewed
at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/. -- ProMED-mail promed@promedmail.org